Update (since we are pathetic bloggers!!)

Well, here finally, are a few of our favorite pictures from over the holidays. Our only excuse is that we've had at least one person sick everyday since we got back until a couple of weeks ago. We are still fighting the bugs but now we are down to only one or two exploding diapers in a day and no buckets needed. It only took over a month but I guess that is par for the course with big families. We apparently are a big family now.

In December, we decorated cookies to give to our neighbours. They take Eva to school everyday and most of the time pick her up after school as well so we wanted to give them something for Christmas. We didn't do it the Salmon style as I don't have icing tips but the kids had fun.

Enoch enjoyed eating them,

although he did try to ice them as well.

While in Calgary we celebrated Lauryn's 5th birthday. It was actually the day before but with packing and getting ready we didn't celebrate.

Lauryn looks as if she is really loved in this picture. Lots of presents. Although they weren't all for her, she and the rest of the kids did just fine over the holidays.

The kids also enjoyed playing with the big exercise ball

and Alita's fish Sparkle, but this clip is funny just to hear Jeff in the background. Turn up the sound.

The kids loved seeing their Uncle Jeffrey. They all still talk about how funny he is. We love you Jeff!!

We also had the traditional Salmon family nativity, with (unfortunately) the typical sacreligeous moments. Please note Enoch and his bazooka, which also was a sword and a trumpet thoughout the performance.

And Christmas Eve wouldn't be the same without a white elephant gift exchange. I think our family did the best and Enoch really enjoyed his new water toy.

Santa came in full force as did all the family, so too many presents!! With all the birthday and Christmas presents we flew home with about 100lbs more stuff than what we came with.

One of the gifts from Santa was a singing Spiderman.

Enoch was a little hesitant at first but he warmed up quickly.

It is also the most annoying gift. We have hid it and he gets to play with it for short periods of time, every so often.

Reina enjoyed her first Christmas, although I think the paper was the best part for her.

On the 26th we drove up to Edmonton to visit Grani (Paul's grandma) and then back down to Spruce View to visit and spend the night with Rosa, Aaron and their family. Grandpa Cesar and Angie were there as well. It was so great to see all of them as it has been along time. The cousins had a great time together.

They had a little beauty party going on in the bathroom,

while the two youngest, Reina and Jenny Jane got to know each other.

Racheal and Eva are only four days apart and are two peas in a pod. The were inseperable the whole time we were there.

Rosa and Aaron were in the process of moving and so had packed up many of their things so we didn't have chairs for everyone, but we all squeezed in.

Lauryn and Grandpa Cesar had a little after dinner dancing.

We all love Auntie Angie!!!

We also celebrated Eva's birthday and she received the bumps, from Paul, Grandpa, Angie and Aaron.

On the 27th we had another little present opening, here are pics of some of the favorites.

Lauryn got a purse,

Enoch got some tools from Grandpa. He was very excited. If you look at his shoulders you can see how excited he is, you can just hear the inhale of breath.

The next picture also gives you an idea of how excited he was. That is not a problem with our camera.

Our family also received the book "600 Black Spots" which was an instant hit with child and adult alike.

Here is just a really cute picture we took of Reina having dinner.

This was Reina's first time meeting her Grandpa Cesar. Although she didn't like anyone at first, he won her over and she allowed him to hold her.

Reina and Jenny Jane also seemed to get along fine. They were so cute sitting there together!!

It was so great to see all the grandkids together with Grandpa!

Thanks for letting us come Rosa and Aaron. It was great to see everyone.

After returning to Calgary, what did we do?!? Open more presents of course, this time with all the Salmon clan. I can't even remember which time this was.

I can't remember exactly where the piggy bank came from but the pennies were from John and Enoch loved them. He was busy for quite awhile.

We were very excited to meet our other cousins, Anya and David. Reina actually has cousins on my side close to her age.

The girls really enjoyed their new cousins. I thought this picture was very cute.

We also celebrated Eva's 8th birthday while in Calgary,

along with Anya and David's first birthdays.

I love this clip. Dip, Dip, Dip.

I included this just because it was too cute not to. It was super crazy to see my brothers as fathers but they are doing a great job.

And of course no blog would be complete without the "Bike Poster."

We are so glad the little ones could play together. Even if they weren't really playing together.

While in Calgary, Eva was baptized. It was wonderful to have both sides of the family there to participate. It sure meant alot to all of us.

Can you believe we are parents of an eight year old? She is sure growing up.

After the baptism the party really got going on Grandma and Grandpa's new dance floor.

The cousins had one final time to be crazy together before the Harpers headed on down to Magrath.

And one final picture as well.

The party continued...

even though kids started dropping like flies...

and Reina continued to enjoy drinking from a bottle.

We can't wait to see you everyone again.

Thanks for the great time. Let's do it again soon.

And if you made it this far in this blog you must really love us!!

Getting ready for Christmas

To get in the Christmas spirit, we decided to set up our tree, even though we won't be here to celebrate.

The kids had fun setting it all up and decorating it.

Reina really likes the stockings and she has been getting alot faster at crawling so we've had to block off the tree a bit (although not in this picture).

She also has this new trick of balancing on her tippy-toes and hands.

We also recently went to Eva's school Christmas concert. Like others of these events, it provided some amusing moments. Eva's class sang two songs, this is her singing "Reindeer Love to Boogie" I think she was feeling a bit self-conscious with me taking her picture. I was going to put up video but I couldn't get it to work.

We also had our ward Chirstmas party. It was "A Night in Bethlehem". If any of you have ever done this for a party it is great fun. We enjoyed semi-authentic food, made dredels and candles, and visited the baby Jesus in a manger. We also were supposed to dress up, so here we our in our bed sheets, bath robes and ties. Actually we were dressed a little better than that but not much.

Last Month's Adventures

It's been almost a month since our last post so this will be a power post as I have a bunch of pictures and videos. Hopefully no one will get too bored.

Here are the girls. you can get an idea of how much they have grown.

We have been getting out the warm clothes as winter has hit here in Dartmouth. Enoch was quite happy to don his Spiderman coat. He constantly gets comments on it.

In this little bunting bag Reina looked like an little Inuit but sadly it is too short for her so...

...we had to resort to the Blue Blob! Many of you will remember Alita wearing this. It is in surprising good condition for this being the fifth child to use it. It still looks really cute!!

Reina is growing up fast. She loves playing with her siblings and they adore her.

Paul recently tried growing a beard just to see what it would look like and Reina thought it was great fun to play with.

Paul lasted for about a week and a half before he was aching to shave.

Reina has also grown two teeth in the last month although in this clip you can only see one.

We also went to see Santa at the mall.

The girls enjoyed this and spent quite some time on Santa's knee telling him what they want for Christmas.

Enoch wasn't so sure.

We also met Frosty the Snowman.

Santa gave them each crayons and a coloring book, which they had fun coloring.

Enoch also kept a close eye on Santa to make sure he didn't do anything naughty. (You can just see a little bit of Santa's knee in the picture.)

Reina didn't get to meet Santa as she was sleeping but woke up in time to enjoy coloring.

On December 1st they have a Tree Lighting Celebration here in Dartmouth. It was -6 and quite windy. We had flurries all day but decided to go anyway so we bundled everyone up.

The kids went on a little train ride they had. (Sorry it is so dark, hopefully you can see them.)

We enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate, while Reina enjoyed a warm bottle.

The tree was lite but the fireworks were a bit of a flop. Too windy.

The kids also got to go in a firetruck.

Enoch was excited about his but got a little worried when he thought we were leaving without him.

All in all it was a good night even with the cold.

Our last exciting news is that Reina has begun to crawl. Just a little at a time but by the time Christmas comes she'll probably be pulling stuff off the tree and eating giftwrap faster than we can stop her.

Trying to catch it on camera is tricky though because whenever she sees the camera she stops doing what she is doing. So I had to put the camera on the ground for her to crawl towards but I think you can tell she is crawling in this clip.